ALBUM REVIEW – BLACK PUS: TERRESTRIAL SEETHINGS

Terrestrial Seethings is the latest release by Black Pus, the solo project of Lightning Bolt drummer/vocalist/album cover artist/noisemaker Brian Chippendale. You’d be hard pressed to find a better percussionist on the planet, playing at the exact knife-edge meeting point of speed, strength and blind aggression all whilst spewing mangled vocal lines from behind a patchwork […]
A Bananagun is a surreal concept, like something visualised by Salvador Dali. It conjures brightly vivid images of sticky potassium being fired in a scattershot fashion while stumbling over discarded banana skins.  The name suits the Melbourne/Naarm group’s second album which creates a ramshackle blend of psych-garage, freakbeat experimentation and spiritual jazz. Compared with the […]

ALBUM REVIEW – BANANAGUN: WHY IS THE COLOUR OF THE SKY?

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 1 NOVEMBER 2024

Silent Radio’s guide to a busy week of new releases. Trust Fund       Has It Been A While? Fans of seventies singer-songwriters, and particularly Nick Drake’s first two Joe Boyd-produced albums, will find much to recommend here, while Belle and Sebastian’s early folk-inflected material is another obvious touchstone. Hard-Fi              Don’t Go Making Plans EP  EP whose […]
It has been four years since Courteeners released their last album ‘More. Again. Forever.’ Coming out just before the world shut down leaving many like me locked inside listening to music all day every day. The album was a more mature Courteeners as opposed to their “lad-ish” nature that many fans had come to know […]

ALBUM REVIEW – COURTEENERS: PINK CACTUS CAFE

ALBUM REVIEW – PIXIES: THE NIGHT THE ZOMBIES CAME

Grunge pioneers, surf-rock legends and enduring icons Pixies have returned with their horror-themed ninth studio album The Night the Zombies Came, and the first effort containing new bassist and vocalist Emma Richardson, after a long-standing 11-year stint of bassist Paz Lenchantin, who departed from the group earlier this year. The album contains 13 songs and […]
As the clocks go back this weekend, that allows an extra hour for catching up with new releases. Here is the Silent Radio guide. Khana Bierbood          Monolam         Thai band who share a love for the western psychedelic music of the 60’s-70’s. As they began writing songs they found a likeness in their sound and the […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 25 OCTOBER 2024

ALBUM REVIEW – FIONN REGAN: O AVALANCHE

Although ‘O Avalanche’ consists of eleven separate songs, it overwhelmingly feels like a forty-minute mood piece, almost like a short arthouse film. The words are poetic and return to themes like landscape and environment as it evokes the place in which it was written, Mallorca. Sun-dappled energy shines through. It is very much a solo […]
The answer to the album’s title is ‘yes’. It has been six years since their previous album, ‘Bringing The Backline’. In the intervening period, Trust Fund has shrunk from being a group into primarily Ellis Jones’ project. From a full band indie rock sound, they have made a welcome diversion into classical guitar and string […]

ALBUM REVIEW – TRUST FUND: HAS IT BEEN A WHILE?

ALBUM REVIEW – THE PAINTED CEILINGS: MAYBE THERE’S A DIFFERENCE

Collecting the last kisses of the sun, Maybe There’s A Difference transports us back to a warmer season. With an ear pressed to nature’s headphone, the spiralled form of a conch concocts wave-like vibrations of a nautical buzz. With the first pinches of strings, the sound of The Painted Ceilings coats you with the salt […]
With several of our writers having been part of our city’s previous music industry festival, In The City, which ran from 1992 – 2010, we were overjoyed when Beyond The Music picked up the baton and created what the music industry, and Manchester’s music scene has been missing – a festival devoted to honest discussions, […]

LIVE REVIEW: BEYOND THE MUSIC FESTIVAL: VARIOUS VENUES ACROSS MANCHESTER – 9-12 OCTOBER 2024